Never Say Never
by karly05
Summary: Itty Ferb and Daddy Lawrence in a Pep Talk for Ferbnessa Fans. As usual, it ties into the rest of my continuity with callbacks to First Dinner in Danville, Toy Trains and Tea and His Name Was Matt.


Never Say Never

Ferb Fletcher was sitting on the sofa next to a girl. Not just any girl, she was a College Girl, which was something very important indeed. She was the first American girl he had really met – to actually speak to, that was – and oddly enough, she was one of the first American girls he had even seen after moving to his new home. Her name was Vikki – not Victoria, just Vikki, with two Ks and no C – and she had eyes that were green and gold and brown all at the same time and a lime green streak in her hair. He had seen her at Goldie's Diner on his first day in Danville, where she had smiled at him and said he was cute. Ferb liked her. Dad had met her a few days later at the University book store where he worked, and had introduced her to Ferb as a babysitter, but that implied that Ferb was a baby who needed minding. He preferred to think of Vikki as a friend.

They were sitting on the sofa eating pineapple and watching television. The program was called _Archie Pelago's Islands of Music_, and it had puppets. Ferb liked puppets. He liked cartoons, too, but puppets were more real. Oh, not that he thought they were alive; Ferb already knew that puppets and cartoons were just tools for pretending and making up stories. But puppets were actual objects that someone had built out of cloth and plastic and stuffing and that made them interesting to him. He was more interested in machines and engines and things made with nuts and bolts and gears, but it might be fun to build a puppet someday.

Vikki liked Archie Pelago, too, and had told Ferb why his name was funny, and what an archipelago was. She giggled at the antics of Professor Euphonius and Paquita the Parrot and was happy whenever they played any music that was Russian or ragtime. Today, Archie was learning how the exact same thing could seem scary or silly depending on what sort of music was playing in the background. They were about to find out that the Horrible Monster Tarantula was just the shadow of Legs, the spidery drummer – which Ferb had figured out two minutes into the show – when the door to the flat opened and Dad walked in.

He was humming a song Ferb didn't know, and carrying an old record player with a crank on the side and a big cone on top that looked like a flower. Dad said, "Hello, old chap," in a singing sort of way as he set the record player on their dining table and went right on humming.

"Ooh, neat!" Vikki bounced up from the sofa to get a look at the funny old object. "Where'd you get that, Mr. Fletcher?"

"Hm, what?" said Dad, taking out his wallet. "How was Ferb today, all right?"

"Ferb's a sweetheart, always," said Vikki, looking back toward the sofa where he still sat, tossing him a smile and a wink that made him feel good. "We made pizza for lunch, then we went to the park for a while…"

"That's nice," said Dad, in the voice that meant he wasn't really listening. He had some money in his hand and said, "Thank you, Vikki. Um, do you think you could mind Ferb tomorrow night? I know it's short notice, but…"

She grinned and said in a quiet voice Ferb probably wasn't meant to hear, "Hot date?"

Dad turned red and sort of laughed, "Eh-heh," and tugged at his collar in an uncomfortable way.

"No problem," Vikki didn't make him say anything else and folded up the money in her hand before she came back to the sofa. Glancing at the telly, she said, "Oh, did they figure it out?" and Ferb nodded. He put his empty pineapple bowl on the coffee table and stood up. He never knew quite how to start, but it always worked out that he would make a little feint with his arms, and Vikki would say, "Got a hug for me?" Then she would crouch down on one knee and Ferb would put his arms around her neck and she would give him a squeeze and quick rub on his back, then she would stand up and ruffle his hair and say, "Bye, Ferb. See you later, OK?" Ferb would nod and give her a thumbs up, and she would give him that smile that meant _So cute!_, and then she would leave.

They went through this ritual today, the same as always, and Dad and Vikki said thank you to each other again and she was gone. Ferb picked up both pineapple bowls and carried them to the kitchen, where he set them up on the counter by the sink.

"Ferb, old chap," Dad had a great big smile on his face, "you'll never believe what happened today. I ran into someone very special at the estate sale. An old friend of mine, someone I hadn't seen in a long time." He sat down at the kitchen table, and Ferb took this as an invitation to do the same. "You know, it's funny, but she hasn't changed a bit. And she remembered me, if you can believe that," he chuckled. "We're going out to dinner tomorrow night."

Dad's old friend was a _she_, and even Ferb could see that he liked her very, very much. He hoped this friend was nice, and that she would be nice to his father. Dad had liked someone called Melanie very, very much once, back when Ferb was born, and she had ended up making him sad, and Ferb didn't want that to happen again. To his father, or to himself.

Dad must have seen his worried look, because he said, in a reassuring way, "Her name is Linda, and she's lovely, I'm certain you'll like her. I've already told her about you. Oh, Ferb," Dad sighed, and Ferb could not remember ever seeing him so happy, "isn't it remarkable how things work out? Honestly, I thought I'd never see her again, even when we came back here, then all of a sudden, there she was, and it was as if we'd never said goodbye…" He smiled at nothing in particular for a minute until Ferb finally shifted in his chair and lifted a finger.

"Yes, Ferb?" Dad looked at him.

"Are you going to marry her?" He wasn't certain he wanted to know the answer to this – or what he wanted the answer to be – but it had to be asked.

"Oh, dear," Dad looked even more uncomfortable than he had with Vikki earlier. "It's a bit soon for that, old chap. I haven't even taken her to dinner yet. But, I suppose – if it goes well – well, you never know, do you?" He looked thoughtful at this and said, "It's all a bit of a shock, still, bumping into her like that. She's just as magnificent as I remember her, though. And she's not married, either, well not now, and what are the odds of that? It just goes to show, old chap," Dad looked at him again, "never say never. If you're meant to be with someone, it will happen, one way or another. It might take a while, and it might look hopeless at times, but in the end, if it's meant to be…"

Ferb wondered if Dad and the magnificent Linda were 'meant to be.' And, if they were, where would he fit in? Would she even like him? That was the big question. But he also found himself wondering if there was a magnificent girl somewhere who was meant to be with him – and if there was, how would he know? And what if it took forever and what if it did look hopeless sometimes and why was he even thinking about this now when he should be worrying about this Linda and whether she would want a little green-haired boy who didn't talk much? He was only faintly aware that his fist was clenched until Dad reached over and laid a comforting hand on it.

"Don't worry, old chap. Whatever happens, you and I will always be a team." His father gave him a pat as the fist relaxed under his touch. "But I think this could turn out to be something wonderful for both of us."

The light in Dad's eyes filled Ferb with confidence. It was true, he had no way of knowing what was ahead for them, for _him_. But Ferb Fletcher promised himself that he would never give up hope, never stop trusting that, no matter how bad things looked, somehow or other they would turn out for the best. As they were meant to be.

He would never say never.

THE END

**A/N – This was therapeutic. I really needed this. Never give up, never surrender. Ferbnessa Forever!**


End file.
